All the mouth-watering recipes that Letitia shares here on Dujour have inspired today’s post on the yummiest still life of all: food. These days, photographers are capturing the things that they eat on film more and more. And we can see why… From figs to cupcakes, bread to cookies and milk- these photos look good enough to eat. And so we shall!

See you next week!

Love, Brittni

How do you wear your frou frou when no one is looking?

Here, Daisy Lowe pairs her fitted tuxedo blazer with a Louis Vuitton ballerina skirt.

Here, Susie Bubble pairs her Opening Ceremony (Where The Wild Things Are Collab) Ira Skirt with chainmail gloves, opaque black leggings and some serious boots for a badass faux fur warrior princess vibe.

then…

now…

]]> http://dujourmag.com/blog/model-mondays-joan-smalls/feed/ 2 http://dujourmag.com/blog/kitchy-weekends/ http://dujourmag.com/blog/kitchy-weekends/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:57:43 +0000 Letitia http://dujourmag.com/?p=2768 contributed by guest food blogger Becoming Lola

Gingerbread Waffles

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, separated
3/4 cup buttermilk (may substitute regular milk if necessary)
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

for serving (optional)
confectioner’s sugar for dusting
whipped cream and cinnamon sticks to garnish
warm maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat waffle iron.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine the first seven ingredients (flour through ground cloves); blend thoroughly. In another stand mixer bowl, mix brown sugar and egg yolk until fluffy; add buttermilk, molasses and butter. Switch bowls and stir wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined—do not over mix.

In a small bowl, beat the egg white and cream of tartar using an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the existing batter.

Quickly (and evenly) spoon batter onto a preheated waffle iron. Bake according to manufacturer’s directions, until light golden brown. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar if desired, and/or garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon sticks. Serve with warm maple syrup, strawberry yogurt and tea.

There are days when all I want is lying in my bed, watching all Grey’s Anatomy episodes, wearing only boxer and baggy over-sized T-shirt, skipping shower and praying that my boyfriend would never see me like that. I call that my comfort day, in my comfort day I only eat comfort food and I wish I would not regret eating the comfort foods.

In my mind, comfort food is something easy, simple and sinful. Talk about chocolate chip cookies we are. I used to get chocolate chip cookies craving every now and then, lucky me, I’m good at chocolate chip cookies baking, I even have my very own recipe that got very good rave from my friends and family. But when you bake too much of chocolate chip cookies, you’ll get bored of the cookies and decided that chocolate chip cookie is no more that appealing.

Although, I was longing for the texture of chocolate chip cookies, how chewy, soft but crunchy at the same time. Longing for the vanilla and brown sugar scent of the cookies, I still haven’t got my chocolate chip cookies craving back. So butterscotch chip cookies it is! So i used butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips in the cookie dough for non-chocolate chip cookies. It was a very good decision because when im baking the cookies, the kitchen smelled wonderful and the cookie itself is just as wonderful.

For this cookie recipe, I went with the very first cookie recipe I used way back then in my early baking craze. Its just so easy to whipped with very good cookie result. Crunchy on the edge and soft and chewy in the center. this is why I always fancy kid’s cookbooks, yes, the recipe comes from a cookbook for kids.

YOU BET YOUR BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES

makes 2 dozen

1 stick softened butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup butterscotch chips

1.    preheat the oven to 375 F
2.    cream the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl (I only used spatula to creaming the butter and sugar)
3.    add the egg and vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar. Blend the ingredients well.
4.    Mix the flour, salt and baking soda in the other mixing bowl. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture. Blend it well. You have cookie dough! Now mix the butterscotch chips into the dough.
5.    Spoon the dough onto the greased cookie sheets to make these drop cookies. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
6.    Allow the cookies to cool before eating them.

You know, here at Dujour, we try not to be act on favoritism when possible. But what about those exceptions? What about those moments when you want to climb the Empire Building or Eiffel tower and shout from the rooftops a la King Kong, beat your chest, and proclaim your love? Is it okay then? We sure do hope so, because we are head over heels for new Etsy discovery, Flora Bond. Just a vintage-junkie mom living in Idaho, Flora Bond was started in fall of 2008 and has been ravaging the necks and pretty heads of girls ever since. She even has her own mascots! The Pied Piper Marionettes, and you know how much we love anything pink, sassy and girl clubish, so sign us up! Using five various handmade techniques for all rosettes, these beauties are sure to be a rooftop-climb-inducing treasure in your Pandoras box. So why are you still here? Shop now!

Okay, anyway, yeah lots-of-ways banana cake by Dorie Greenspan, it’s the most flexible banana cake recipe, with alternatives ingredients choices. Here is what she says, “the inspiration to bake a banana cake always seems to strike when a bunch of bananas are mottling on the counter, but just because you’ve got the fruit doesn’t mean you have all the ingredients you need, which is why I created this amazingly flexible cake. No coconut? Skip it. No brown sugar? Use white. No coconut milk? Use milk, buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt.” Isn’t it the most wonderful recipe? I wish every other recipe could be this flexible and by that time, I’ve found my baking bible.

So I was set on baking this recipe, I opened my cupboard to get flour only to found a bag of brown sugar, looking so pretty. Just beside my fabulous Lindt dark chocolate. There, I changed my mind. I went with my big first recipe crush, this banana black and white chocolate, simply because it involves chocolate and banana. Both my favorite. And no, I wasn’t sorry, how could you be sorry with marbled banana chocolate cake? Its moist and light at the same time, although maybe a bit short in banana flavor.

BANANA BLACK AND WHITE CAKE

adapted via Dorie Greenspan
Makes about 8 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon dark rum
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (i used salted margarine)
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

1. center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven t0 325 degrees F.
2. butter a loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.
3. whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. in a small bowl, mash the bananas then stir in the rum.
4. melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of the butter together in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water. beat the remaining stick of unsalted butter in a large mixing bowl using electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. add the sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, until light and smooth. add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. the batter will look curdled, and it will continue to look curdled as you add ingredients. reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the flour mixture, mixing only until it is just incorporated. with the mixer running, pour in the milk, and when its blended, add the remaining dry ingredients. scrape down the bowl and mix in the mashed bananas. the batter will look even lumpier.
5. pour a little less than half the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and stir to blend. drop alternating spoonfuls of both batters into the prepared pan, then, using a table knife, swirl the batters together, taking care not to overdo it.
6. bake for 1 hour and 20 to 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. transfer the cake into cooling rack and let it rest for 15 minutes before unmolding. then cool the cake to room temperature, but i liked it warm better!

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